Ichiko's Story
by A Rozen Dream
Summary: Ichiko is a ninja, like nearly everyone in Naruto world only she is a bit different, shes blind. She has been blind since birth but despite this she aims to become a great ninja one day. Each chapter is like mini stories following her everyday life and struggles, maybe even romance, who knows. Just like life its a little all over the place. Lots of characters! not just those four


My name is Ichiko, I'm a 16 year old Chunin, my specialty is stealth and tracking, my taijutsu is the best, then ninjutsu and lastly genjutsu. I don't talk much, hardly ever outside of a mission and its not because I'm shy or anything like that I just like silence. I've been told my hair is a dark green, that my skin extremely pale considering I'm outside a lot and that I was pretty, cute, even beautiful by some but none of that really matters to me considering I'm blind.  
I've been blind since I was born, the village mum and dad used to live in while mum was pregnant with me got attacked and as a result my mum died and I was born blind. Dad had friends in the village hidden in the leaves and so he moved here turning the first floor of our apartment into a bakery.

It was just dad and even though his work was in our house he couldn't watch me constantly and being a kid I used to wander. When I was around 6 I snuck out the house so I could buy him a birthday present but instead got into some trouble. I used to get picked on a lot because of my blindness, I didn't understand after all to me it was normal and growing up blind my other senses were a lot stronger so even though I couldn't see a person approaching me I could hear them, feel them or smell them but in large crowds I couldn't tell that I was being followed. They took me somewhere I had never been before and when I tried to find my way home I walked into someone, a ninja.

He offered to help me but I refused, I hated relying on others, to be treated as if I was useless. He didn't push it but continued to follow me, when I yelled at him he asked how I knew, I explained that I could hear him to which he replied was amazing. I met him a few other times after that, he never approached me I always had to approach him; we would walk together and talk. One day he told me I should become a ninja, that I could improve my skills to a point where I could see things without actually seeing. Becoming a ninja, something I never dreamed of but the idea stuck in my head. Eventually dad allowed me to enrol in the ninja academy where I started my long and hard journey.

Only 2 people growing up ever believed I could become a ninja despite my blindness, my dad and Kazuya who, after graduating, become my teacher with Koji and Daisuke becoming my team mates. It took a while for them to fully trust me and even though Koji is a Jounin now and Daisuke in the ANBU we still meet up as often as we can, my first and best friends. Since our team wasn't really at team anymore I found myself getting paired with other teams, with people I hardly knew, with people that once used to make fun of me which was hard. the fact that I don't talk much never helps either although in the last year I had managed to make 5 more friends that I look forward to working with, there's Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Tenten and Shikamaru.

There were others that I was comfortable around, that treated me like a normal ninja but I wouldn't call them friends since we never talk or have anything to do with each other outside of missions. Lately there hadn't been many missions so most days I was helping dad out in the bakery until finally someone was sent to deliver me a message.

"I'll be back soon dad, I have to see Lady Tsunade" I said pulling off my apron

"Be careful" he called out from the back room

Once outside I ducked into the narrow gap between our house the one next to us until I felt the ladder I had put up some time ago. After climbing up I made sure my right heal was on the real edge of the roof before running counting each step jumping at just the right moment landing on the next roof. I had many things like this around the village, easy ways to get onto roofs for which I had memorised the amount of steps and speed needed to get to everywhere in the village making it a lot quicker to get around. Once I was back on solid ground I entered the Hokage's building stopping outside her door reaching out to knock on it.

"Come in" she called out

I opened the door and walked into the room sending out a small chakra wave allowing me to find out who was in the room. My heart beat just that bit faster when I noticed Shikamaru was in the room but that soon vanished as I noticed one I wasn't that familiar with.

"Ah here is the last member of your team" Tsunade said

"What's with the bandages over your eyes?" the guy closest to me asked

_"One that doesn't know"_ I thought holding back a sigh

"Leave it alone Naruto" Shikamaru said

"Wha? But how can she see through those things"

"She can't" Tsunade said for me "Ichiko is blind"

"WHAT!" he shouted

"Shikamaru you're in charge"

I didn't really pay much attention as Naruto carried on about my blindness, I know he addressed me a couple of times, asking questions probably but I never answered him.

"Can she even talk?"

"Of course she can" Shikamaru sighed "she just doesn't talk much unlike you"

"Good luck and I hope you all return safely" Tsunade said

"Right" Shikamaru sighed

"Man why couldn't Sakura come instead" Naruto whined

"Naruto meet at the gate in 20"

"Yeah, yeah" he said as he left the room

"How troublesome" Shikamaru sighed making my smile return "come on Ichiko, ill fill you in"

I nodded my head not knowing if he saw or not then followed after his footsteps as we left the Hokage's building.

"Don't worry about Naruto, he's an idiot"

"Its ok" I said quietly "I am used to it"

Shikamaru went over the mission as we walked down the street towards my house, it seemed simple enough. There was a large maze, it was once a place many people went to but over the years it shut down and got over grown attracting many animals, because of the danger the place has been banned but two children had gone missing with reports saying they went in there and we had to find them. After explaining the details to me he left to get his things as I continued on home, once I got back I packed my bag then after saying goodbye to dad made my way to the gate.

Naruto was still stuck on the fact that I was blind but Shikamaru always quickly told him to shut it. When I first met him he never said anything about my blindness, he did say I was troublesome at some point but he said that about just about everything and everyone. I found myself looking forward to seeing him, even seeking him out some days and it wasn't just because he treated me like a normal ninja but because he was quiet. Being around loud people or lots of noises can mess around with my senses but with Shikamaru there was always a comfortable silence.

It was our 3rd mission together with others that thought I was useless and he stuck up for me, at first I kind of liked it but sometimes the things he would say, it was like he was sticking up for me because he thought I couldn't. I avoided him for a while after that, eventually we ran into each other and he asked why I had been avoiding him, I told him, well it was more yelling at the time, afterwards he sighed then told me that its because I was his friend, even if I was troublesome.

"Well at least tell me how you get around then if you're really blind" Naruto said once we stopped for the night

"Fine" I sighed

"What really!" he asked full of excitement

"If you quiet down a little"

"Sure" he shouted making me sigh with Shikamaru mumbling 'troublesome'

"Well for starters my other senses are just better; I can hear things you can't, feel things, smell even so that helps. Plus my memory, in the village I get around mainly by memory, I remember how many steps to how fast I'm walking or running. That's just the basic that I have been doing my whole life, once I started training to be a ninja I started using my chakra, I channel it to my hands, feet, any part of my body really and send out a small wave. From that I can see an outline of things... A bit like a picture with no colours or shades, just lines on a page.

"The other thing is vibrations, it's not really my favourite since so many things can change but it is the only way I can run after people when I don't know the area. Lastly is the rain. When it rains each drop creates a small vibration when they hit something, it allows me to see a more real version of the world but it's extremely loud so unless I really want to see something... or someone I try and stay away from rain"

"So if you can see me what am I doing?"

"Waving you're hands around" I sighed "you're making that much noise I don't need my chakra"

"What about Shikamaru then?" he asked closer to me now

"Do I really need to prove it?"

"Of course"

"well... he's sitting on a boulder" I mumbled with my heart beating that bit faster "he has his left knee bent with his foot resting on the right knee... his left elbow is resting on his left knee holding up his head as he is now looking at us since we're talking about him"

"That's so cool!" Naruto shouted

Slowly the image in my head faded away as I turned my head away from Shikamaru, every time I looked at him, actually saw his outline I always found myself wanting more.

***Next morning***

"This is the place?" Naruto asked swallowing hard "looks creepy"

"Everyone stay together" Shikamaru said entering the maze

Naruto kept jumping at nearly everything which made it harder on me as we walked through the maze, after a while though I smelt something. It was faint but much too fruity and sweet to belong here.

"Shikamaru wait, this way" I said stopping pointing to my right

"You found something?" he asked

"I'm not sure" I mumbled "it's too faint to tell"

"Lead the way, it's more then we have"

_"Great I really didn't want to lead"_ I thought taking a step towards the smell

Trees, rocks, logs, small stones even, they were fairly easy to see after all they didn't move but things like bushes, water, leaves, hedges and others like them were hard. They constantly moved with every little thing, even a person walking by but one thing to my advantage was so far all the hedges were in straight lines, a little over a meter apart so when the lines vanish on me it's not too hard to figure it out. Despite that I still told myself over and over not to walk into something.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Naruto asked with a small groan

"Yes, I'm su..." I started to say coming to a sudden halt

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked walking to my side

"I thought I heard... I-it's nothing" I mumbled continuing on

We weren't walking much further until I was certain of what I heard, the sound of a child talking, one was crying and the other talking to quietly for me to hear.

"Wait did you guys hear that?" Naruto asked after some time

"The girl is crying, she's injured" I said "he's trying to comfort her; a wild animal attacked them last night"

"How do you know all that?"

"I'm close enough to hear them now"

"This is what you heard earlier?" Shikamaru asked

"Yes, only when the wind blew though. We should probably call out to them, so they don't get frightened"

"Right" Shikamaru sighed "Naruto you're the loudest"

Naruto started calling out there names as I tried to block out the noise and continue to lead us to them. Once the children started calling back though I let Shikamaru take over leading us through the last few turns until we found them. The girl had hurt her ankle and couldn't walk so Naruto ended up carrying her while the boy walked by his side with a few scratches telling him to be careful with his sister.

Getting out was a lot easier, they had circled around a few times making it seem like we were further in then we were. After only 10 minutes of walking we were out of the maze so now all we had to do was return them home then the mission was complete. This was another awkward part of being a blind ninja, meeting the client who more often than not thought I was incapable. For a while I felt I had to prove them wrong but now I just did my best to ignore what they said and get on with the mission.

During the walk home Naruto went on about how 'amazing' I was, once we set up camp and he was finally asleep I couldn't help but think 'finally'.

"You should get some rest" Shikamaru said sitting with his back against the a tree

"I will but I just wanted some peace... Naruto is nice but he is loud"

"The number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja" he said with a small smirk making me giggle

"Yes but he is very likable" I sighed with a gentle smile


End file.
